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Dordt College News

Nicole Baart Spins a Heartfelt Coming of Age Tale of Loss and Renewed Hope in After the Leaves Fall

Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. is proud to present After the Leaves Fall, a stunning debut novel from newcomer Nicole Baart, a 1999 graduate of Dordt College. Set in rural Iowa, After the Leaves Fall tells the story of Julia, a young girl with a broken heart, determined to escape the confines of her gossipy, conservative Christian town.

Accepting a scholarship in the engineering school at a state college, Julia finally has the perfect chance to reinvent herself. As the perils of college life take over and one wrong decision threatens to ruin everything, a tiny bud of hope takes root and Julia discovers that starting over looks nothing like she imagined.

Told in the tradition of Peace Like a River, After the Leaves Fall has already received rave reviews from best-selling authors. Angela Hunt, author of Doesn’t She Look Natural, called the book, “Beautifully and sensitively written…a breathtaking peek into a young girl’s soul” and James Calvin Schaap, professor of English at Dordt College, called it “a fine coming of age story” and said, “Nicole Baart’s lyrical prose is a joy, and this deeply moving novel promises much more from its young and gifted author.”

Book one of a two-book series, After the Leaves Fall is for anyone who never wanted to go home again, but in doing so discovered a beautiful place unlike any other.

Nicole (Van Der Vliet) Baart was born and raised in Sioux Center, Iowa, where she and her family now live. She taught high school English for several years in Canada but is now the full-time mother of two young sons and the wife of a Aaron Baart, pastor of Bridge of Hope Ministries in Sioux Center and a 2000 grad of Dordt College.